Antigonos I Monophthalmos, 310-301 BC, Drachm

Antigonos I Monophthalmos, Drachm, AR, 310–301 BC, Abydos mint; 4.31 g; 17 mm. Obverse: Head of Herakles right, wearing the lion-skin headdress. Reverse: Zeus Aëtophoros seated left on backless throne, right hand extended holding eagle, left holding sceptre; legend AΛEΞANΔPOY. Struck at Abydos under Antigonos I in the name of Alexander III on the Attic standard, c. 310–301 BC. Reference: Price 1528. Issued during Antigonos’ control of Asia Minor, this posthumous Alexander-type drachm reflects the Diadochoi policy of maintaining Alexander’s coinage to legitimize authority and facilitate interregional payments. Abydos, a strategic Hellespontine mint, supported Antigonos’ military and naval operations in the lead-up to the Fourth War of the Successors, which culminated at Ipsus in 301 BC. The type illustrates the continuity of Macedonian royal imagery and the broad monetary integration of the eastern Mediterranean in the early Hellenistic period.